Namibia - CountryWatch

Environmental Overview Global Environmental Concepts
The move, which was spurred by African countries but backed by China and India, appeared to be
geared toward redirecting attention and primary responsibility to the wealthier and more industrialized
countries. The impasse was resolved after the wealthier and more industrialized countries offered
assurances that they did not intend on shirking from their commitments to reducing greenhouse gases.
As a result, the participating countries ceased the boycott.
Outside the actual summit, thousands of protestors had gathered to demand crucial global warming,
leading to clashes between police and demonstrators elsewhere in the Danish capital city. There were
reports of scattered violence across Copenhagen and more than 1,000 people were arrested.
Nevertheless, by the second week of the climate change summit, hopes of forging a strong deal were
eroding as developed and developing nations remained deadlocked on sharing cuts in greenhouse
gases, and particularly on the matters of financing and temperature goals. In a bid to shore up support
for a new climate change, United States President Barack Obama joined other world leaders in Copenhagen.
On Dec. 14, 2009, there was a standoff brewing between the United States and China. At issue
was China's refusal to accept international monitoring of its expressed targets for reducing greenhouse
gas emissions. The United States argued that China's opposition to verification could be a dealbreaker.
By the close of the summit, the difficult process eventually resulted in some consensus being cultivated.
A draft text called for $100 billion a year by 2020 to assist poor nations cope with climate
change, while aiming to limit global warming to two degrees Celsius compared with pre-industrial levels.
The deal also included specific targets for developed countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,
and called for reductions by developing countries as a share of their economies. Also included in
the agreement was a mechanism to verify compliance. The details of the agreement were supported by
President Barack Obama, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
This draft would stand as an interim agreement, with a legally-binding international pact unlikely to
materialize until 2010. In this way, the summit in Copenhagen failed to achieve its central objective,
which was to negotiate a successor to the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gas emissions.
Editor's Note
In the background of these developments was the growing global consciousness related to global
warming and climate change. Indeed, as the Copenhagen summit was ongoing, it was clear there was
enormous concurrence on the significance of the stakes with an editorial on the matter of climate
change being published
in 56 newspapers in 45 countries. That editorial warned that without global action, climate change
would "ravage our planet." Meanwhile, a global survey taken by Globescan showed that concern over
global warming had exponentially increased from 1998 -- when only 20 percent of respondents
believed it to be a serious problem -- to 64 percent in 2009. Such survey data, however, was generated
ahead of the accusations by climate change skeptics that some climate scientists may have overstated
the case for global warming, based on emails derived in an illicit manner from a British University.
2. Air Pollution
Long before global warming reared its head as a significant issue, those concerned about the environment
and public health noted the deleterious effects of human-initiated combustion upon the atmosphere.
Killer smogs from coal burning triggered acute health emergencies in London and other places.
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